Brenda Morris, the lead attorney who committed prosecutorial misconduct in the Ted Stevens case, might have a history of prosecutorial misconduct. I'll investigate later. In the meantime, read this article:
Two weeks before tax day, married lawyers Alan and Jean Brown were signing their names to the back of a familiar-looking green and yellow U.S. Treasury Department check that most Americans associate with a tax refund.
The check the San Antonio couple endorsed on March 30 was an Internal Revenue Service refund of sorts -- but not in the traditional sense.
The $1.34 million check was the result of a settlement between the Browns and the government in Alan Brown, et al. v. United States, a Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) suit the couple filed three years ago in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.
The couple filed the civil suit after they were caught up in a complicated tax prosecution in which Alan Brown, a well-known criminal defense attorney with Brown & Norton, and Jean Brown, a family law solo, allege they were targeted by overzealous Internal Revenue Service agents, which led to the Browns being indicted in 2003 by a federal grand jury in Austin, Texas, for allegedly filing false personal tax returns between 1994 and 1997.
Brenda Morris, a chief deputy in the U.S. Department of Justice's Public Integrity Section who prosecuted the Browns, did not return a telephone call seeking comment.
A $1.34 million dollar settlement for a false prosecution? That's a lot of smoke. Does it point to yet another Morris fire?
